As is known in the art, file archiving systems are useful to move files for which there is not sufficient space on primary storage. The archiving of files allows for new data storage on primary storage while moving old or low priority data to secondary storage. Typically, a pointer or stub is left for data removed from primary storage by which the data can be pulled from secondary storage after archiving.
Based on a specified policy, files can be selected to be moved from primary storage to secondary storage. Files can be selected for movement to secondary storage based upon a variety of factors, such as last access date, size, type, user preference, etc. While secondary storage may provide access that is slower than primary storage, secondary storage can be relatively low-cost as compared with primary storage.
Primary storage is typically a LUN or a hard disk in server hardware. Secondary storage can be provided as disk, tape, EMC CENTERA content-addressable storage (CAS) platform for data archiving, EMC ATMOS cloud delivery platform to deliver and manage storage-as-a-service, etc. In general, secondary storage provides very large storage volumes at relatively low cost.